“If you just drop the Chicago Bulls into today’s NBA game they don’t fit, they’d get blown out, they’d be shooting 8 three’s a game and Golden State would be shooting 38-three’s.”
In the everlasting heated comparisons between the 1995-1996 72-win NBA Champion Bulls to the 2017 Warriors, Colin Cowherd believes the discussion is a lot more cut and dry than you think.
In an argument that often gets sidetracked by the discussion over what rules they would play in – the hand check rules of the 80’s and 90’s that immensely raised the physicality of defense or today’s rules of saturated punishable contact – Cowherd says Golden State’s length would actually make their brand of basketball more potent in the 90’s, with a shorter three-point line (22 feet from 1994-1997 compared to 23 feet, 9 inches post 1997) obviously favoring the Warriors if the game was played in 1996.
“Chicago would be dumbfounded, perplexed; the personnel wouldn’t match at all,” Cowherd said of the contrasting styles. “Congratulations, here’s another two points, we’re going to hit a three.”
With sportsbooks in Las Vegas recently listing the Warriors between 2.0-8.5-point favorites on those Bulls, Cowherd said this Golden State team is clearly the greatest ever in a golden era of basketball where the athletes are the most skilled that they've ever been.
“Rules or no rules, it doesn’t matter what era this is. You’re watching the most skilled basketball team of my adult life.”